The present invention relates to arrangements for establishing connection to printed wiring boards and more particularly to a low insertion force arrangement for interconnecting two or more printed wiring boards.
Printed wiring board interconnect arrangements are very well known to those skilled in the art. One type, described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,100 issued on Nov. 6, 1973 to Norman Leonard Reed. This type includes a contact which is integrally formed by folding a sheet metal blank. It comprises a pair of elongated spring arms supported longitudinally and spaced apart at one of their ends by an elongated body portion. The arms extend in opposite directions away from their supporting ends and each arm extends towards the supporting end of the other arm so that they overlap or cross. Contact portions are located at the free ends of each arm adjacent to the supported end of the other arm and they face away from the spring body. Each contact is mounted in a slot within a carrier block of insulating material by latch arms formed on the body portion which project away from the spring arms and engage a shoulder formed in the carrier block.
Another arrangement for interconnecting printed wiring boards is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,736 which issued on Mar. 18, 1975 to Carter, et al. This patent teaches an electrical connector mounted in a housing to electrically and mechanically interconnect a pair of parallel adjacent printed wiring boards and to connect the printed wiring boards to an adjacent terminal. Pairs of resilient, parallel, spaced apart legs extend from a connector body and are adapted to resiliently grip the printed wiring boards therebetween.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,003, which issued on Mar. 10, 1981 to William E. Berg, teaches an electrical connector for interconnecting conductive paths of two circuit elements by means of the following: a contact member including a concave portion interposed between two convex portions; a resilient member conforming to the contact member in part; and a connector body, so formed that when the body is forced against the circuit elements, the resilient member forces the contact member into engagement with the circuit element conductive paths.
Devices permitting connection to printed wiring boards are also well known in the art. In this regard, zero insertion force, edge board connectors have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,200 issued Feb. 19, 1980 to Yeager, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,861 issued July 3, 1979 to Anhalt. These connectors include cantilevered contacts biased toward the printed wiring board and positioned out of engagement with the board for insertion purposes. Connectors including cantilevered contacts biased against the printed wiring board and temporarily retracted from contact with the board directly by means of an actuator are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,609 issued Feb. 19, 1974 to McIver, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,221 issued Nov. 12, 1974 to Lee. Finally, a low insertion force connector including cantilevered contacts biased out of engagement with the printed wiring board and positioned into engagement with the printed wiring board through the use of actuators is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,900 issued Dec. 4, 1979 to Heinz, et al.
The art cited is seen to teach various arrangements of cantilevered or resiliently biased contact springs for connecting to or interconnecting printed wiring boards.